| Description | Papers of Julian Patrick Bryan LOVELL, 1963-2024, the major series include:
Research and theses for undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at Oxford University, 1962-1964; research and thesis for PhD studies at Harvard University, 1964-1968;
Material relating to Lovell's academic career including teaching notes and resources as Lecturer in Geology, University of Edinburgh, 1970-1981; Cambridge Leadership project, 2001-2003;
Reprints, correspondence, drafts and some research relating to publications by Lovell on: Sedimentary structures and stratigraphy, 1965-1989; Mantle and plumes, 1997-2023; Puddingstone, 2006-2023; Advocacy for climate change, 2002-[2020];
Training courses for BP: University and Industry links, 1996-2009; Challenge Programme, 1997-[2006]
Activities for the Geological Society, 1996-2000, including promoting the recognition of man-made climate change, notably as President, 2003-[2015];
Media appearances, 1979-1986; political career, [1970s]-1981. |
| Administrative History | Julian Patrick Bryan Lovell was born on 10 February 1942 in Bath, England. The second of five children, his father was the astronomer Sir Bernard Lovell (1913-2012) who founded the Jodrell Bank Observatory, and his mother Joyce was a teacher and writer.
Between 1951-1960 Lovell attended The King's School Macclesfield, entering New College, University of Oxford in 1960, where he graduated with a BA in Geology in 1963. Under the supervision of Harold Reading, Lovell attained his MSc on the sandstones the Carboniferous Bude Formation, North Cornwall in 1964.
In 1964 he moved to Harvard University to study for his PhD on the Eocene Tyee Formation of the Oregon Coast Range, supervised by Raymond Siever, graduating in 1968. Both his MSc and PhD involved researching rocks directly in the field, an interest which has stayed with him all of his life.
Lovell returned to the UK in 1969 to take up an academic post as Lecturer in Geology at the University of Edinburgh. His main topic of interest during the 1970s was in distinguishing between two major types of sandstone. The deepwater sandstones, like those Lovell studied in Cornwall and Oregon, were turbidites deposited by the downslope flow. Conversely contourites were deposited by currents flowing along the slope which he observed in the Silurian in Wales. Lovell and Dorrik Stow were among the first to propose criteria for distinguishing between these two rock types, which piqued the interest of the oil industry. He set up the consultancy firm 'Petrological Services Edinburgh Ltd' to advise oil industry clients before later joining BP Exploration full-time.
At Edinburgh University he conceived and led a cross-disciplinary Earth Science course for non-science students. The related book 'The British Isles through Geological Time: a Northward Drift', Allen & Unwin (1978) comprised a set of palaeogeographical maps combining the latest research on plate tectonics and North Sea data compiled by the oil industry. In 1978 he became the Scottish Liberal Party energy spokesman, and unsuccessfully stood as a Parliamentary candidate for Edinburgh South in May 1979.
In 1981 Lovell became geologist to BP Exploration and in 1984 became the company's inaugural Chief Sedimentologist until 1989 when he was posted to Dublin as Exploration Manager Ireland. He would be awarded an OBE in the Diplomatic Service and Overseas List for 'Services to British Commercial interests and to Anglo-Irish relations' that same year. Postings in the Middle East and North Africa followed, until Lovell finally became Head of Recruitment at the BP Group. Working with BP colleagues across the company, Lovell developed the international and cross-business 'Challenge' programme which focused on recruitment and development of new employees. He led the programme, which was taught at global locations across the world and after his retirement in 1996 continued as a consultant until 2009.
After his retirement Lovell joined the Earth Sciences Department at the University of Cambridge as a Senior Research Fellow. He was already engaged in research with Nicky White, who he met in 1995. Lovell and White investigated whether the sedimentary record could be used to measure the pulse of a mantle plume. Their paper "Measuring the pulse of a plume with the sedimentary record", Nature, vol 387 (1997) suggested the well-documented discrete episodes of sand deposition in the Paleogene of the North Sea basin reflected hot pulses in the early Iceland plume.
Although working with and for the oil industry for many years, Lovell became a vocal advocate for the recognition of human-induced climate change, notably the connection with fossil-fuel companies and the emission of carbon. He worked with the Geological Society to promote discussion on the subject, notably staging the conference 'Coping with Climate Change' which featured an open debate between BP and ExxnMobil at Burlington House in 2003. The book 'Challenged by Carbon: The Oil Industry and Climate Change', Cambridge University Press (2010) formalised his opinions in print.
As President of the Geological Society between 2010-2012, Lovell interested himself and influenced the direction of the Society's activities at that time. For instance under Lovell's Presidency, the Society became the first such organisation to promulgate the geological case for concern about human-induced climate change. The Society also held joint carbon capture and storage meetings with the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, which included many climate sceptics amongst its membership. The first international conference on the Anthropocene, which proposed a new epoch based on the effects of human activities recorded in the geological record, was held during his presidential term.
Between 2002-2020 he was the director of Lovell Consultants Hertford Ltd, advising on climate change and carbon capture & storage. Shortly before the Paris Climate Summit in 2015, BHP (one of Lovell's main clients) became the first major resource to seek to align its investment portfolio publicly with global targets for the reduction of carbon emissions.
Since 2021 he has been Emeritus Senior Researcher at the University of Cambridge, continuing to work on the impact of pulsing mantle plumes on the geological record and climate change. His current focus is on the study of exposures of the puddingstone-bearing rocks near his home in Hertford. |